JP5910838B2 - Home base station failure DL packet total - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile telecommunications network, in particular, but not exclusively, to a network that operates according to a 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) standard, or a standard equivalent to or derived from that standard. The present invention is particularly, but not exclusively, related to reporting a count of failed packet transmissions at the end of a call.

  This application is based on UK patent application No. 0914427.0 filed on August 18, 2009 and claims the benefit of priority from said patent application. The disclosure of that patent application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

  Under the 3GPP standard, NodeB (or eNB in LTE) is a base station through which a mobile device connects to the core network. Recently, 3GPP standards bodies have adopted an official architecture and have begun work on new standards for home base stations (HNBs). If the home base station is operating according to LTE (Long Term Evolution) standards, the HNB may be referred to as HeNB. A similar architecture applies to WiMAX networks. In this case, the home base station is generally called a femtocell. For simplicity, this application uses the term HNB to refer to any such home base station, and the term base station is used generically to refer to other base stations (such as the base station of a macrocell in which the HNB operates, etc. ). One or more HNBs provide in-home wireless coverage (eg, 3G / 4G / WiMAX) and via one or more appropriate public networks (eg, via an ADSL link to the Internet) to the core network Connect and connect to the core network via an HNB gateway (HNB-GW) that aggregates traffic from one or more HNBs in the case of 3GPP standards.

  Since the charging policy can be determined by the successful packet count, the current specification for the 3GPP standard reports the information element (IE) “Transmission failure DL data amount” when the call is finally released. There is a need to. The serving base station maintains this count so that it can report the count of failed DL data packets when the call is released. However, when a user equipment (UE) such as a mobile phone moves around with the user, the UE is likely to roam between cells during a call. When roaming between macrocells, the Iu connection between the source base station and the core network will be released and a new Iu connection will be established with the target base station. Therefore, the core network can aggregate the failed packet count for each base station involved in the call. However, the inventors track the failed packet count because the Iu connection between the HNB-GW and the core network is not released during handover when the UE moves from one HNB to another. I understand that I can't.

  The present invention has been made to address this problem. The inventor has the HNB-GW or HNB involved in the handover (in some cases) so that when the call is finally released, all aggregated counts of failed DL packets are reported to the core network. We understand that this problem can be addressed by taking responsibility for summing up failed DL data packets.

  According to one aspect, the present invention is a home base station for connecting to a gateway device and providing communication service to one or more mobile communication devices, by one or more preceding home base stations. Downlink operable to aggregate the number of downlink data packets that failed to transmit to the mobile communication device with the number of downlink data packets that failed to be transmitted by the home base station to the same mobile communication device. A home base station is provided that includes a link failure packet control module and is operable to transmit a report on the amount of data for reporting the total number of downlink packets that failed to be transmitted.

  According to another aspect, the present invention is a method performed by a home base station for connecting to a gateway device and providing communication service to one or more mobile communication devices, wherein the method is one or more The number of downlink data packets that have failed to be transmitted to the mobile communication device by the previous home base station of the same as the number of downlink data packets that have failed to be transmitted by the home base station to the same mobile communication device And a method for transmitting a report on the amount of data to report the total number of downlink packets that failed to be transmitted.

  According to yet another aspect, the present invention fails in a mobile communication device configured to communicate with a home base station to transmit to the mobile communication device by one or more preceding home base stations. A downlink failure packet control module operable to aggregate the number of downlink data packets received by the home base station with the number of downlink data packets that have failed to be transmitted to the same mobile communication device. A mobile communication device is provided that is operable to send a report on the amount of data to report the total number of downlink packets that failed.

  Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a mobile communication device of a type to which an embodiment of the present invention is applicable. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a home base station that forms part of the system shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a home base station gateway that forms part of the system shown in FIG. 1.

  In general with respect to the drawings, any functional block diagram is intended merely to illustrate the functions present in the device, and each block shown in the functional block diagram is not necessarily a separate entity or a separate entity. It should be understood that this should not be construed as meaning. The functionality provided by one block may be interspersed or distributed throughout the device or within a portion of the device. Further, the functionality can incorporate hardwired components, software components or firmware components, or any combination thereof, where appropriate.

Overview FIG. 1 schematically shows a mobile (cellular) telecommunications system 1 in which a user of a mobile telephone (MT) 3 can move from a cell 9-1 based on a “home” base station (HNB). When away, other users (not shown) via the macro cell of E-UTRAN base station 5-1 or the macro cell of UTRAN 5-1 and radio network controller (RNC) 7 and core network (CN) 8 )). In the telecommunications system 1, when a user is in a cell 9-1 based on HNB, the cell 9-1 of the HNB 11-1, the public data network (in this case, the Internet 13), the home base station gateway (HNB-GW). ) 15 and the core telephone network 8 can also communicate with other users (not shown). The HNB 11-1 typically connects to each HNB-GW 15 via an appropriate Internet connection, such as ADSL or cable connection, so that all uplink communications are transmitted via each HNB-GW 15. -The IP address of GW15 is programmed. A second HNB 11-2 is shown having its own cell 9-2, and the mobile phone 3 can roam between the HNBs 11 depending on which HNB provides the best connection.

  As will be described in more detail later, in this embodiment, the HNB-GW 15 or HNB (s) involved in the inter-HNB handover sums the failed DL packet transmission count. When the HNB-GW 15 sums up the failed DL packet transmission count, the HNB-GW obtains the “transmission failure DL data amount” from the source HNB 11 and whenever the mobile phone 3 relocates to a different HNB 11 in the HNB-GW 15, These values must be summed up. When the HNB (s) 11 totals the failed DL packet count, during an intra-HNB handover, the source HNB signals its (totaled) count to the target HNB, which causes the target HNB to count The summation should be continued so that when the IU connection between the core network 8 and the HNB-GW 15 is released, the total “transmission failure DL data amount” can be transmitted to the core network 8.

HNB-GW based solutions As discussed earlier, there are two different solutions to the problem addressed by the present invention, in which the mobile phone 3 is different in the HNB-GW 15 Every time relocation to the HNB 11, the HNB-GW 15 needs to total the “transmission failure DL data amount” from the source HNB 11. There are several different ways to allow the HNB-GW 15 to obtain the “transmission failure DL data amount” from the source HNB 11, some of which are described below.

  Option 1a: The HNB-GW 15 sends a RANAP IU release command message to the source HNB 11, and the source HNB 11 responds with a RANAP IU release complete message, which includes the IE “transmission failure DL data amount”.

  Option 1b: The source HNB 11 can include “transmission failure DL data amount” in the RUA disconnect message to the HNB-GW 15. The source HNB 11 will send this message to the HNB-GW when it detects that the relocation is successful.

  Option 1c: The source HNB 11 can include “transmission failure DL data amount” in the HNBAP UE deregistration message to the HNB-GW 15. Again, the source HNB 11 will send this message to the HNB-GW when it detects a successful relocation.

  Option 1d: HNB-GW 15 can send to source HNB 11 an RUA disconnect message with an associated reason such as “UE relocated”, and source HNB 11 responds with a new RUA message RUA disconnect response The message includes “transmission failure DL data amount”.

  Option 1e: The HNB-GW 15 can send an HNBAP UE deregistration message to the source HNB11, and the source HNB11 can respond with an HNBAP UE deregistration response, and the message is “transmission failure DL data amount "including.

  Based on one of the above options, after receiving “transmission failure DL data amount” from the source HNB 11, the HNB-GW 15 shall store this value and report it by the HNB during the relocation procedure. The “transmission failure DL data amount” is summed, and finally, the summed value is used to transmit the “transmission failure DL data amount” IE in the actual IU release completion message to the core network 8. Shall.

  For details of the RUA message, the reader is referred to 3GPP standard TS25.468-UTRAN Iuh interface RANAP User Adaption (RUA) signaling. For HNBAP messages, 3GPP standard TS25.469-UTRAN Iuh interface Home Node B Application Part (HNBAP) signaling, for RANAP messages, 3GPP standard TS25.413-UTRAN Iu interface radio See Radio Access Network Application Part (RANAP) signaling.

HNB-based solution In a second solution to the problem to be addressed, the source HNB 11 signals its aggregated “transmission failure DL data amount” to the target HNB 11 during handover, so that the target HNB 15 When the call is finally released or transferred to a macro cell or another HNB controlled by a different HNB-GW, the last target HNB 11 The reported “transmission failure DL data amount” can be reported to the core network 8. The source HNB 11 can signal the aggregated “transmission failure DL data amount” to the target HNB 11 in an SRNC to TRNC container.

Home Base Station FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing main components of the home base station (HNB) 11 shown in FIG. As shown, each HNB 11 is operable to send and receive signals to the mobile phone 3 via one or more antennas 53 and to the HNB-GW 15 via the HNB-GW interface 55. A transceiver circuit unit 51 operable to transmit and receive signals is provided. The operation of the transceiver circuit unit 51 is controlled by the controller 57 in accordance with software stored in the memory 59. Although not necessarily shown in FIG. 2, the home base station 11 will naturally have all the normal functions of a cellular telephone network home base station, which may include hardware, software and firmware as needed. Can be provided by any one of, or any combination. The software can be pre-installed in the memory 59 and / or downloaded via the communication network 8 or from a removable data storage device.

  In this example, the controller 57 is configured to control the entire operation of the home base station 11 by program instructions or software instructions stored in the memory 59. As shown in the figure, these software instructions include, among other things, an operating system 61, a base station registration module 63, a mobile phone registration module 65, a handover module 67, a connection control module 68, and a DL failure packet control module 69. The base station registration module 63 is operable to register the HNB 11 with the HNB-GW 15, and the mobile phone registration module 65 is operable to register the mobile phone 3 with the HNB 11 and the HNB-GW 15. The handover module 67 is operable to control the handover of the mobile telephone 3 from the HNB 11 to another HNB or another base station 5. The connection control module 68 is operable to control the connection between the HNB 11 and the mobile phone 3 to which the HNB is serving, and the connection with the HNB-GW 15. The DL failure packet control module 69 keeps a count of DL packets that have not been successfully transmitted to the mobile telephone 3 and is either in the HNB-GW 15 or the target HNB at the time of intra-HNB handover, or a macro cell, or different It is operable to give the core network 8 its count upon handover to another HNB 11 served by the HNB-GW 15. When the HNB 11 is responsible for summing up the “transmission failure DL data amount”, the DL failure packet control module 68 in the target HNB 11 receives the “transmission failure DL data amount” from the source HNB 11 during handover within the HNB. Then, the data amount is summed with the “transmission failure DL data amount” calculated by itself, and then the total value is signaled to the next HNB 11 or to the core network 8.

Home Base Station Gateway FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the main components of the home base station gateway (HNB-GW) 15 shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the HNB-GW 15 includes a transceiver circuit unit 70, and the transceiver circuit unit 70 is operable to transmit and receive signals to and from the HNB 11 via the HNB interface 72. In addition, it is operable to transmit / receive signals to / from the CN 8 via the CN interface 74. The operation of the transceiver circuit unit 70 is controlled by the controller 76 in accordance with software stored in the memory 78. Although not necessarily shown in FIG. 3, the HNB-GW 15 will of course have all the normal functions of the cellular telephone network HNB-GW, which may include hardware, software and firmware as needed. Any one, or any combination can be given. The software can be pre-installed in the memory 78 and / or downloaded via the communication network 8 or from a removable data storage device.

  In this example, the controller 76 is configured to control the overall operation of the home base station 11 by program instructions or software instructions stored in the memory 78. As shown in the figure, these software include, among other things, an operating system 80, a base station registration module 82, a mobile phone registration module 84, a handover module 86, a connection control module 87, and a DL failure packet control module 88.

  Base station registration module 82 is operable to register HNB 11 with HNB-GW 15 and telephone registration module 65 is operable to register mobile phone 3 with HNB-GW 15. The handover control module 86 is operable to control the intra-HNB handover of the mobile telephone 3 between the two HNBs 11 served by the HNB-GW 15. The connection control module 87 establishes a connection for the mobile phone between the HNB-GW 15 and the core network (through the CN interface 74), and establishes a connection between the HNB-GW 15 and the HNB 11 that provides the service. Is operable. Each time the mobile telephone 3 relocates to a different HNB 11 in the HNB-GW 15, the DL failure packet control module 88 obtains the “transmission failure DL data amount” from the source HNB 11, and sums (sums) these values. Is operable to report the aggregated value (including the number from the last HNB 11) to the core network 8 when it is transferred to another HNB-GW 15 or macro cell, or when the call is released. is there. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the HNB-GW 15 does not require the DL failure packet control module 88 when the total amount of “transmission failure DL data” is the HNB 11.

  In the above description, the home base station 11 and the home base station gateway 15 are described as having a plurality of separate modules (base station registration module, telephone registration module, access control module, etc.) for ease of understanding. ing. For certain applications, such as when an existing system has been modified to implement the present invention, these modules can be provided in this way, but other applications, such as first In systems designed with the mechanism of the present invention in mind, these modules may not be distinguishable as separate entities because these modules can be incorporated into the operating system or the entire code.

Modifications and Alternatives Detailed embodiments have been described above. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, a number of changes and alternatives may be made to the above embodiment while still benefiting from the invention implemented in that embodiment.

  In the above embodiment, a mobile telephone based telecommunications system has been described. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, the signaling techniques described in this application can be used in other communication systems. Other communication nodes or communication devices can include user devices such as personal digital assistants, laptop computers, web browsers, and the like.

  In the embodiment described above, the mobile phone and the HNB each include a transceiver circuit unit. Usually, this circuit section is formed by a dedicated hardware circuit. However, in some embodiments, a portion of the transceiver circuitry can be implemented as software executed by a corresponding controller.

  In the above embodiment, a plurality of software modules have been described. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, these software modules can be provided in compiled or uncompiled form, either as a signal over a computer network or on a recording medium, HNB or mobile phone. Can be supplied to. Further, the functions performed by some or all of this software can be performed using one or more dedicated hardware circuits. However, the use of the software module is preferred because the use of the software module makes it easier to update the base station, the gateway, and the mobile phone to update the functions of the base station, gateway, and mobile phone.

  Although specific communication nodes (eg, HNB, base station, RNC) have been described in the specification, it will be understood that the description can equally apply to other nodes with similar functions. Specifically, the term HNB is used generically to refer to the home base station of any type of network (eg, LTE, WiMAX, etc.) and that similar functions can be provided by the base station. It will be understood.

  Various other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art and will not be described in further detail here.

  The following is a detailed description of how the present invention can be implemented in the currently proposed 3GPP standard. Various mechanisms are described as essential or necessary, but this only applies in the case of the proposed 3GPP standard, for example due to other requirements imposed by the standard There is. Therefore, nothing described herein should be construed as limiting the invention in any way.

1. Introduction Since the charging policy can be determined by the successful packet count, it is assumed that the IE “Transmission Failure DL Data Volume” is reported when the call is finally released. Therefore, it is necessary for CN to report a failed packet count.

  This document describes several methods for reporting “transmission failure DL data amount” during HNB-GW intra-relocation scenarios.

2. Discussion In case of HNB-HNB relocation in HNB-GW, the IU connection to CN is not released. The function of summing up the “transmission failure DL data amount” is assumed to be performed in either the HNB-GW or the HNB (which may be plural) involved in the relocation.

HNB-GW-based solution In this case, the HNB-GW may “send unsuccessful DL data amount” from the source HNB (s) by some means each time the UE relocates to a different HNB in the HNB-GW. ”And get these values together. To obtain this information from the source HNB, there may be the following options:

  Option 1a: The HNB-GW sends a RANAP IU release command message, and the source HNB responds with a RANAP IU release complete message containing the IE “transmission failure DL data amount”.

  Proposal 1a: The source HNB transmits “transmission failure DL data amount” in the RANAP IU release completion message to the HNB-GW.

  Option 1b: The source HNB can transmit “transmission failure DL data amount” in the RUA disconnect message to the HNB-GW.

  Proposal 1b: The source HNB transmits “transmission failure DL data amount” in the RUA disconnect message.

  Option 1c: The source HNB can transmit “transmission failure DL data amount” in the HNBAP UE deregistration message to the HNB-GW.

  Proposal 1c: The source HNB transmits “transmission failure DL data amount” in the HNBAP UE deregistration message to the HNB-GW.

  Option 1d: The HNB-GW may send a RUA disconnect message that includes an associated reason such as “UE relocated”. The source HNB can respond with a new RUA message RUA disconnect response that includes “transmission failure DL data amount”.

  Proposal 1d: The HNB-GW sends a RUA disconnect message containing a new reason value, and the source HNB responds with a new RUA message RUA disconnect response with “transmission failure DL data amount” as one of its IEs.

  Option 1e: The HNB-GW can send an HNBAP UE deregistration message to the source HNB, and the source HNB can respond with an HNBAP UE deregistration response including the “transmission failure DL data amount”.

  Proposal 1e: HNB-GW sends HNBAP UE deregistration message with new reason value, and source HNB has new HNBAP message HNBAP UE deregistration with “transmission failure DL data amount” as one of its IEs Respond with a response.

  Based on one of the above options, upon receiving “transmission failure DL data amount” from the source HNB, the HNB-GW should store this value and report it by the HNB during the relocation procedure. Each “transmission failure DL data amount” to be summed, and finally, using this aggregated value, send “transmission failure DL data amount” IE in the actual IU release completion message to the CN. To do.

  Proposal 2: HNB-GW performs the aggregate function of “transmission failure DL data amount” reported by the source HNB (s) and then sends the final IU release complete message to the CN And

HNB-based solution In this case, when the “transmission failure DL data amount” is signaled to the target HNB and finally the IU release procedure occurs, the target HNB sends the aggregated value “transmission failure DL data amount” to the CN. Send.

  Proposal 3: Let each HNB perform the function of summing the “transmission failure DL data amount” reported by the preceding source HNB and the “transmission failure DL data amount” actually generated in the current HNB.

  Proposal 4: Assume that the source HNB signals “transmission failure DL data amount” to the target HNB in the SRNC to TRNC container.

3. Solution Based on Proposed HNB-GW Proposal 1a: The source HNB sends a “transmission failure DL data amount” in the RANAP IU release complete message to the HNB-GW.

  Proposal 1b: The source HNB transmits “transmission failure DL data amount” in the RUA disconnect message.

  Proposal 1c: The source HNB transmits “transmission failure DL data amount” in the HNBAP UE deregistration message to the HNB-GW.

  Proposal 1d: HNB-GW sends RUA disconnect message with new reason value, and source HNB responds with new RUA message RUA disconnect response with "transmission failure DL data amount" as one of its IEs .

  Proposal 1e: HNB-GW sends HNBAP UE deregistration message with new reason value, and source HNB has new HNBAP message HNBAP UE deregistration with “transmission failure DL data amount” as one of its IEs Respond with a response.

  Proposal 2: HNB-GW performs the aggregate function of “transmission failure DL data amount” reported by the source HNB (s) and then sends the final IU release complete message to the CN And

HNB-based solution Proposal 3: Each HNB performs the function of summing the "transmission failure DL data amount" reported by the preceding source HNB and the "transmission failure DL data amount" that actually occurred in the current HNB Shall.

  Proposal 4: Assume that the source HNB signals “transmission failure DL data amount” to the target HNB in the SRNC to TRNC container.

4). References
[1] 3GPP TS 22.220 Service requirements for Home NodeBs and Home eNodeBs (Release 9)
[2] 3GPP TS 25.469 HNBAP Protocol Specification

Claims (5)

A home base station for connecting to a core network via a gateway device and providing communication services to one or more mobile communication devices,
The number of downlink data packets that failed to be transmitted to the mobile communication device by one or more preceding home base stations, and the number of downlink data packets that failed to be transmitted by the home base station to the same mobile communication device A downlink failure packet control module operable to aggregate with the number of
A home base station operable to send a report on the amount of data to the gateway device in response to a handover to report the total number of downlink packets that failed to be sent to the core network.   During handover, the target home base station is operable to signal data related to the number of downlink data packets that have failed to be transmitted by the home base station to the mobile communication device. The home base station according to claim 1, wherein the data is transmitted in an SRNC to TRNC container. A method performed by a home base station that connects to a core network via a gateway device and provides communication services to one or more mobile communication devices, comprising:
The number of downlink data packets that failed to be transmitted to the mobile communication device by one or more preceding home base stations, and the number of downlink data packets that failed to be transmitted by the home base station to the same mobile communication device And the number of steps
Transmitting a report on the amount of data to the gateway device in response to a handover to report a total number of downlink packets that failed to be transmitted to the core network.   A communication system comprising a core network, the home base station according to claim 1, and a mobile communication device.   A computer program comprising computer-executable instructions for configuring a programmable home base station as a home base station according to claim 1 or 2.

Images